HUNTING SNOW GEESE IN 2005 By DENNIS HUNT. The Friend of the Goose Hunter. The chase is on again as we begin the 8th year of the “conservation snow goose hunt”. This could also be called –“the chase of the wild white goose”. It isn’t snow goose hunting using decoys because, most of these snow, blue and Ross’s geese will not be fooled by decoys! They are too wary! The only way that you can get them is: sneak them, surround them, “Arkansas them” off of water, pass shoot them or lay in a blind in between fields that they are feeding in without any decoys! Let me explain these different methods and I will finish by telling you where I would get a goose to two in the Central or Mississippi Flyways. USING DECOYS. Nine out of 10 snow geese will not come into a decoy spread because they are too wary! They might get chased 5 to 10 times a day from Sept. 1 thru the time they get back up on the tundra, which will be around May 15, 2005. The conservation snow goose hunt has ruined the decoy- hunting that used to exist in the fall in the Mississippi and Central Flyways and has also ruined snow goose hunting for the state of Texas that used to have great hunting in November, December and January! If I were going to use decoys, I would select a small body of open water that is in the flight path of the snow geese. I would surround the water with windsock decoys on the edges and some in the water. I would also employ 2 to 3 dozen -floater decoys and put them on the edge of the water. I would play the wind and find a spot downwind from the decoys in weeds, cattails or under a bush or small tree. Use natural cover if it is available, otherwise I would use my low profile Final Approach blind and cover it up with some natural vegetation from that area. I would use that body of water and hunt the geese as they are migrating into the area. This would only be – when there is a south wind! When you have that hunting situation, I would get ready to hunt by 1pm and wait all afternoon for the geese to get there. They will come in looking for a drink and some rest. SNEAK THEM. This is the method most of the goose chasers use! They put on a facemask and crawl on their bellies across a muddy field while trying to get close enough to get a shot at them. This seldom works because snow geese feed in large flocks and there are too many eyes watching! I had a guy from Nebraska belly crawl thru our blind positions as he tried to get close enough to get a shot at my full body decoys. He was moving faster than a snake! This was in 1999 and I asked him, “What are you trying to do”? His reply was, “ he had permission also to hunt our same field and my big foot decoys looked – real”. SURROUND THEM. This is the most productive way to get the snow geese. • Find a large flock of geese feeding in a field. • Split your hunting team up into – 1 walker and the rest shooters. •Have the walker walk slowly towards the feeding geese with the wind to his back. The geese will be feeding into the wind and will take flight as the walker gets within 100 to 150 yards of them. Because the geese will take flight with the wind, they will not be able to get much altitude and will fly over the shooters very low! “ARKANSAS” THEM ON THE WATER. This is not an ethical way to get snow geese but this snow goose chase has forced the goose hunters to “do what they have to do” to get them. They will surround the roost pond where they are resting or sleeping and open up on them. A lot of cripples will never be recovered but an unethical goose hunter doesn’t care! PASS SHOOT THEM. This system works but you have to be alert and be an opportunist! Here is what you are looking for: • Two or three large flocks of feeding geese that are feeding in 2 or 3 different fields. These geese will be looking for an abundance of food and will be flying from field to field searching for this situation. You have to get positioned in a ditch or behind some natural cover and get in between the flying geese! • Hunting when there are strong winds is the best! Get between flying geese that are going out to feed or geese that are feeding between fields. Get in a good hiding spot and wait for them because they will be flying low and slow! WAIT FOR THEM IN A BLIND. An ethical way to hunt them would be to use a low profile blind such as a Final Approach Eliminator blind. Here is what I would do: • Find a large concentration of snow geese that are feeding in several fields close together. • Scout them and make sure they will be coming back tomorrow. • Get out to a non-feeding field before legal shooting time and set you blind out in the middle of that field. Cover the blind up and wait for the geese to fly over. The geese will be flying between the fields with a food supply in it and will get careless as they fly over your blind. You won’t get a lot of geese using this method but you will get some! WHERE TO HUNT THEM? ARKANSAS. I would start at Eudora and follow the Mississippi river north to Osceola. MISSISSIPPI. Stay around the Mississippi river and check out the Greenville area. TENNESSEE. Follow the Mississippi. The area around Moss Island Refuge is good! KENTUCKY. Stay close to the Mississippi and check out Ballard County WMA! ILLINOIS. Check out the river areas around Cache, Metropolis, and Cairo as well as Crab Orchard. Rend and Carlyle Lakes can also be great! MISSOURI. Follow the Missouri river and check out Dewitt, the Swan Lake area, the Smithville lake area, Iatan on the river and especially the Mound City area. OKLAHOMA. The area around Jet should be your best shoot. Geese migrating out of Texas will almost always stop there. Ponca City should be checked out also. COLORADO. Check out the areas around Hasty and Hale. KANSAS. Eldora, Hartford and the area around Leonardville can provide some great hunting. Large bodies of water attract snow geese and geese attract geese! NEBRASKA. Fairbury is great and so are Geneva, Clay Center, Funk and York. SOUTH DAKOTA. Start at Yankton and follow highway 81 north. Check out the areas around Howard, Madison, De Smet, and Redfield. Concentrate around Aberdeen and the Sand Lake NWR. This could be very productive! IOWA. The areas around Riverton, Forny Lake and Sloan are very good. MINNESOTA. The Dawson, Morris and Wheaton areas attract a few snow geese. NORTH DAKOTA. I would hunt the Ludden, Kulm, Ellendale and Milnor areas in the south and Church’s Ferry, Carrington and Rolla areas in the north. SASKATCHEWAN. If I were going to go to Canada, I would be near the Melfort area the first week of May! The geese will be resting here which should be the “snow line”. Their next stop will be on the tundra. You might witness all the snow geese near the Milford area! CONCLUSION. Be an opportunist and be ready to move! The migrating geese will be seen today and gone tomorrow. For more information on Dennis Hunt's Books, please check out the Up North General Store.